It is standard to provide a passenger vehicle, in particular a van, station wagon, utility vehicle, or the like, with an apparatus that prevents objects stowed in the compartment behind the passenger seats from bouncing about or spilling forward into the front passenger compartment. In particular German patent document 4,010,209 of E. Ament describes an arrangement where a transversely elongated housing mounted immediately behind the upper portions of the seat backs holds a rolled up net whose free end is secured to a bar. This bar can be pulled up and hooked in holders near the vehicle roof so as to stretch the net tight between the housing and the bar. Any objects that are propelled forward, for instance during a sudden braking operation, are caught by the net and prevented from moving forward into the passenger compartment. This system is fairly bulky when not in use.
In French patent 2,645,479 of A. Tong-Cuong a rack is movable between a recumbent position seated in a complex grooved recess formed in the floor of the luggage compartment, and a standing position immediately behind the vehicle seats. Such a system is fairly effective and easy to use. The recess it sits in however traps dirt and, whether the rack is seated in it or not, presents an uneven surface that does not make it easy to slide objects into or out of the storage compartment.
German patent 4,322,434 of O. Brand et al shows a net arrangement for use around the sleeping area behind the seats in a tractor-trailer cab. The edge of the net is secured to a large U-shaped structure that can be pivoted up or down to deploy the net. Once again, when not in use this system is bulky and unattractive.
German patent document 4,239,470 of P. Butz discloses a net that can be pulled like a window shade out of a housing mounted in the floor at the front end of the luggage compartment, that is immediately behind the seats. The free end of the net is secured to a rod that can either be attached directly above the housing to deploy the net vertically and thereby protect the passengers from cargo moving forward out of the luggage compartment, or can be pulled back and secured down to hold down objects in the luggage compartment. This system is fairly effective but requires that the luggage compartment be specially constructed to accommodate the floor-mounted housing.